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Salvos fired in swine flu battle

By {screen_name}
Monday, October 19, 2009

That cough, general achiness and discomfort — it’s just about certain that it’s H1N1 swine flu, authorities say.

If you’re an adult with no other health problems and haven’t received a vaccination for the illness, it’s possible that you won’t get one, at least not immediately, though the Mesa County Health Department said that anyone who wants an H1N1 swine-flu vaccination will get one — eventually.

Short of vaccinating everyone, the Mesa County Health Department has put several measures into motion, none of them different from outbreaks of seasonal flu.

Children younger than 12 are asked not to visit any of the county’s hospitals and people who do can be issued masks to inhibit transmission of the illness. Hospitals also are limiting visitors to two to a patient.

“We do this every flu season,” Community Hospital spokeswoman Becky Jessen said.

Public health officials want younger children out of hospitals both to protect patients and to protect young people, who are more susceptible to H1N1 swine flu, said Dr. Ned Calonge, chief medical officer for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

“The idea is to keep high-risk groups from going into hospitals” as visitors, Calonge said.

Twenty-three people as of Monday were hospitalized in Mesa County with H1N1 swine flu.